Optimism about the Nation’s First Broadband Plan

March 30, 2010 written by John Watson

An article posted on ExecutiveGov.com discusses FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s positive outlook on the implementation of the Broadband Plan released March 16th. At a hearing on March 25, Chairman Genachowski testified about the plan in front of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet. 

“Broadband is the indispensable infrastructure of the digital age,” he compares, “it is the 21st Century equivalent of what canals, railroads, highways, the telephone, and electricity were for previous generations.”

Imagining life without broadband might be as difficult to some as thinking about life without electricity, but there still persists a significant amount of Americans who do not adopt because they do not have access or the education to realize the relevance.  The FCC’s plan builds a roadmap not only to ensure that everyone has access but that everybody has access to the education needed to optimize broadband use.  While broadband may not seem as tangible as a telephone, according to a study released in March from the University of Washington and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, millions of people have come to rely on the computer for employment, health, and education to name a few. 

The benefits of broadband, like the benefits of electricity, seem endless.